Question NW2158 to the Minister of Basic Education

Reply:

The filling of school-based educator posts on the staff establishment of Provincial Education Departments (PEDs) is an ongoing priority for the Department of Basic Education (DBE).

For Post Level 1 vacancies, public schools are allowed to recruit at the local level immediately as the vacancy occurs and make temporary appointments. These appointments are then made permanent upon ensuring that the educator meets the requirements of the post. By law (Collective Agreement 2 of 2024), a temporary appointment in a vacant substantive post that is a post that is not temporarily vacated (e.g. for reasons of maternity leave) must be made permanent after three months.

In the case of promotional posts, public schools are allowed to make acting appointments, especially for critical posts, such as those of Departmental Head and Principal posts, while the formal recruitment and selection process is undertaken. In addition, in order to address immediate workload challenges that result from vacant promotional posts, public schools are allowed to appoint temporary educators against a vacant promotional post until the vacant promotion post is filled.

It must be noted that the DBE will ensure that the Post Provisioning Norms are reviewed as a matter of urgency. These norms determine the distribution of educator posts to public schools, which account for over 80% of the budget allocated to PEDs.

Unlike most other education policies, the Post Provisioning Norms have not been updated in over 20 years. Our education landscape and priorities have changed during this time. Therefore, we must take steps to ensure that these Norms account for our drive to achieve quality universal access to Grade R and our focus on improving reading and calculating in the Foundation Phase.

The Post Provisioning Norms, in their current form, favour high schools that offer large numbers of subjects in Grades 10, 11, and 12. The consequences are massive inefficiencies and large Foundation Phase classes, which should essentially be under 30 to effectively teach reading.

Therefore, the DBE will develop an updated set of Post Provisioning Norms underpinned by research for the sector's consideration.

Through this process, we hope to ensure that the Post Provisioning Norms will better support our efforts to improve learning outcomes in the Foundation Phase, provide for a more efficient distribution of educator posts and assist provinces in mitigating the impact of budget reductions.